


Interwoven

by thedirtygecko



Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmate Tattoos, Disney Z-O-M-B-I-E-S, F/M, Soulmate Tattoos, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 19:20:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,119
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13747593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedirtygecko/pseuds/thedirtygecko
Summary: Addy reflects on the time Zed and her first met, while simultaneously working up the courage to tell him what her tattoo means.





	Interwoven

"What is it?" Zed asks, his green eyes searching Addison's blue ones. "You've been quiet all day."

"I..." Addison pauses. Her eyes roam around the safe room - the very room where she and Zed first met. 

She scans the shelves that had stood between them during their first conversation, when the lights were so dim that she was unable to see what Zed truly was - a _zombie_. 

_Those shelves were a metaphor_ , she thinks now, _for all the barriers we would have to break down in order to be together_.

When the lights finally did flicker on, Zed was standing before her with his ashy skin and green hair; he had the kinds of dark circles that only form around one's eyes after years of being tired - not lack of sleep tired, no, but the kind of tired that seeps into one's very bones after being descriminated against for so long. 

Then her instincts kicked in, and she had punched him.

Zed had stumbled back a few steps, and Addison had put her hands up over her mouth, surprised not only by what she had done, but by the fact that she had, merely seconds ago, been having a natural conversation with him without even realizing what he was. 

What had shocked Addison most, though, as her friends barged in and began to drag her out of the room, was the way Zed had looked at her. 

Zed gazed after her as if he wasn't surprised at all that her first instinct had been to hit him. 

As though _he_ felt bad for _her_ , and not the other way around. 

He had just looked so very _tired_ , and she would swear that in that moment the circles around his eyes deepened in color. 

And then she was out of the room, his expression burning itself into her retinas as she was dragged down the school hallway and away from him.

Addison's friends had asked her questions - if she was alright, if he had hurt her - but she couldn't bring herself to respond.

 _He didn't hurt me_ , she had thought. _I hurt him, with no reason at all for doing so_.

She looked down at her right hand - the hand who's first instinct had been to cause pain - and saw that her knuckles were begining to bruise. 

Then her eyes moved lower, and her breath hitched. 

There, branching off from her tattoo - a thin, straight line encircling the entirety of her wrist like a bracelet - was the single, tiny outline of a leaf.

Her eyes widened.

 _Oh my god_.

Addison is brought back to the present by Zed placing a steady hand on her shoulder. 

Awareness seeps into her as she remembers that the two of them are sitting across from each other on the floor of the safe room - the only place they can spend time together without worrying about getting caught. 

"You okay?" Zed asks, quiet. Addison wonders how he was able to fold his long legs under himself in order to sit down. "I lost you for a second there."

She gazes up at him and smiles sadly. He looks so much less tired, now that the zombies are allowed to eat in the cafeteria and even join extracurriculars.

"I have to tell you something." Addison keeps her voice soft - not sure why either of them are bothering to whisper - as she rolls her right shirt sleeve up a few inches to reveal her wrist. 

The small space below her hand is now completely encircled with inked vines, weaving around her skin and entwining themselves with one another in a strange and abstract pattern.

"I already know about your tattoo," the corners of Zed's mouth quirk up at her as he traces his fingers over the intricate design.

"Yes, you do," Addison's wrist feels hot where Zed's fingers make contact with her skin. "But you don't know what it means."

Addison hesitantly launches into the explanation about how all humans are born with the tattoos - as just a simple line, or dot, or circle, or an endless variety of basic shapes.

She tells him how, when a person interacts with their soulmate for the first time, the tattoo begins to take shape and becomes more complex as the two of them grow closer. 

Addison pauses, and takes a deep breath.

Then she explains how hers came to life after their first interaction, in the room the two of them are currently sitting in. 

And hasn't stopped since.

Zed is quiet for a while after she's finished, staring at his hands in his lap as his face flushes.

Addison scooches forward across the concrete floor so that her knees are touching his, and looks up at him, trying to figure out what's going through his head. 

"I...I don't know what to say." Zed mutters, looking up at her. He bites his lip as he reaches up, ever so slowly, and tucks a piece of the blonde wig behind her ear, revealing the one tuft of white that never quite allows itself to stay hidden.

Addison inhales sharpely but doesn't pull away. Her heart is racing; no one outside of her family has ever seen her real hair before.

"It's beautiful," Zed breathes after a moment of silence, and his gaze flicks from her hair to her eyes. "You're beautiful."

"Would you stop doing that?" Addison exhales the words in a breath she didn't know she'd been holding.

Zed's eyebrows draw together, forming a crease between them. "Doing what?"

Addison's mouth curls into a cheeky smile. 

"Saying things that make me want to kiss you." 

She leans forward then, closing the distance between them, and fits her mouth to his. Zed kisses back for only a moment before jerking his head away.

Addison's mouth falls open. _What did I do wrong?_

But then she feels Zed's long fingers tugging at her shirt sleeve, and his breath, warm against her face, as he whispers, "I want to watch it happen." 

The two of them are close enough that one could shift forward an inch and they'd be kissing again, but instead they stare transfixed at the inside of Addison's wrist. 

As if by magic, a new vine is drawn into existance by an invisible force; from it, a magnificent purple flower blooms and expands, layer upon layer of petals appearing. It stops only once it's the size of a quarter, and stands out brilliantly against the black and white vines.

A moment of silence.

Then Addison feels Zed's lips against her's again, and she smiles into the kiss, making him laugh as he reaches up and curls the strand of white hair around his finger. 

And everything is perfect.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are greatly appreciated, as they give me the motivation to continue writing! :)


End file.
